Influence of soil erosion and conservation practices on soil physical properties in Ginaberet, Ethiopia

Abstract

Soil erosion is a great worldwide factor for land degradation that leads to loss of soil properties and reducing soil productivity leading to food insufficiency.1 In the Ethiopian highlands, an annual soil loss reaches 200–300 tons/ha/yr from farm land.2,3 Unfavorable soil physical conditions resulting from erosion can reduce infiltration, encourage crusting, loss of soil fertility, deterioration of soil particle aggregation, degrade soil structure and reduce the effectiveness of root zone thereby reducing soil productivity.4 Soil erosion has a great effect on the change of soil physical properties due to the removal of the top fertile and organic matter–rich soil and the deterioration of soil structure or aggregation.5 Several studies in Ethiopia have revealed that soil erosion has become an alarming problem and the major factor affecting the sustainability of agricultural production.6 Over the last three decades, several types of soil and water conservation (SWC) practices have been experienced on different parts of Ethiopia including Amhara Region and particularly Basonawerana district. On the other hand, the absence of soil conservation practice can lead to accelerating soil erosion and affect the components of physical soil conditions significantly.7 Soil and water conservation practices have the ability to overcome the problem of soil erosion followed by improvement in soil physical properties. Wise use of soil conservation practices that are the decisive tool to maintain the productive potential of the soil help to decreasing the exposure of soil to erosion. Conservation practices can address both the processes of soil erosion and possible solutions to conserve the soil in a sustainable way. The improvement is in soil organic matter content, soil structure and its aggregate stability, water holding capacity, soil bulk density, soil porosity, and its workability.8 Similarly, low soil porosity, gravimetric soil moisture content, clay and silt proportion was revealed in the cultivated land without soil bund as compared with non–conserved land and reversely highest soil bulk density and sand fraction.9 Soil erosion has a great negative effect on the change of soil physical properties including soil structure, soil texture, soil moisture content, and soil bulk density in a long period of time.